Having already shown fortitude few possess through the rehabs, Hamilton made the Saints practice squad as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and the full team in 2009. He was a fourth running back and a special teams player on the Drew Brees-led New Orleans team that won the Super Bowl.

But fitting of his career, Hamilton dressed for, but did not play in the big game because of an ankle injury.

“It was a game-time decision,” Hamilton recalled. “I was good at running ahead at full speed, but I couldn’t cut. I didn’t want to hurt the team. I’d rather see someone else who is 100 percent. It still kind of hurts because I really wanted to play in the Super Bowl. But I wasn’t going to be selfish.”

That would be the playing pinnacle. Hamilton tore his ACL in a training camp scrimmage in 2010, tried to come back last summer, but eventually was waived.

He then faced the question every player does: What now? He had been playing football since he was 10; he couldn’t imagine life without it. So the Stockton native chose to return to his alma mater.

“I deal with it every day,” Hamilton said of coming to peace with his circumstance. “I was watching the Chargers play the other day and saw former teammates playing. You still want to go out there and play. It still kind of hurts. I’d probably be depressed right now if I wasn’t here, coaching these guys.

“The fact that I’m here and still around football, still a part of it, that makes me happy.”